


A Simple Case of Kidnapping

by AnicomicQueen



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bat Brothers, Bat Family, Gen, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:43:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15375018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnicomicQueen/pseuds/AnicomicQueen
Summary: Waking up in an unknown location is never how anybody wants to start their day. Especially when the last place you remember being was the Wayne Gala. That usually meant kidnapping.





	A Simple Case of Kidnapping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [solomonara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/solomonara/gifts).



> Participating in the JayDick Summer Exchange 2018 for the first time as well as posting to AO3 for the first time! Probably some oocness, but I tried to make it work. ;P I hope you like it!

“Ow…” Dick groaned as he came to, pushing himself up of the cold, cement floor. “What happened?” He said to no one in particular and reached a hand up to his aching head. He got eyes under control and started to take in his surroundings as much as he could in the dim room. He could make out some large objects in the corner behind him, they looked like cardboard boxes and wooden palettes and crates. Along the wall next to those were some shelves with random clutter and an assortment of containers on the bottom shelves. Across the room there were more pallets stacked against a wall, a couple of metal bins, and a pile of something in the farthest corner. He looked around, noting there were no windows. It smelled like oil, dust, and sweat. He assumed he was in a factory, more specifically in a storage unit inside the factory. Or at least a rarely used room.

He resituated himself and stood up to take stock of any injuries he may have. He was pretty sure he didn’t bring himself to this room. That meant he’d been brought here against his will, but other than a headache, he didn’t seem to be incapacitated in any way. He thought hard, the last thing he could remember was being at the Wayne Gala, downing some of the punch with Jason, avoiding reporters at all costs.

His heart stuttered. “Jason.” He tried to remember past drinking the punch. Were there other people with them? Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember if he’d gotten the drink himself. He didn’t remember if Jason had handed it to him. They did usually have extra staff at the charity events who carried refreshments and snacks...Maybe he’d grabbed a drink from the wrong tray. But if he had, then Jason definitely had as well. They worked better as a team to stave off the unwanteds. He started slowly walking around the room, which was apparently bigger than he initially thought. The boxes and shelves created a sort of maze and he found another pathway. There were other doors in here too, but he tried multiple and they led to smaller storage spaces or they were locked. The farther he got from his starting spot the darker it got.

“Jason?” he whispered into the darkness but he got no answer. He’d started skirting along the walls, being careful to walk slow enough that he didn’t trip over anything. He eventually made it back to his original area and crept up to the main door to test the handle. It was unlikely that the door would open, but it was worth a shot. He carefully grabbed the knob, making sure not to make too much excess noise and slowly started turning. It tuned a little bit and he felt a flicker of hope ignite in him, but another small turn later had the mechanism catching and that hope died instantly. “Dammit.”

He walked back to the spot in front of the empty boxes and slumped down with his back against one of the wooden crates. He sat with his feet planted on the ground in front of him and his knees bent so he could put his elbows on top and drag his hands from his face to the back of his neck. “What did you get yourself into this time, Dick?” he said to himself. Getting taken as a civilian made getting out of here more difficult.

The doorknob jangled for a second before swinging inward and slamming into the concrete block wall. Bright light flooded into the room, momentarily blinding him, but he was still able to jump to his feet and take up a defensive stance, hands raised in front of him, protecting the bulk of his upper body. Once his eyes adjusted, he took note that it looked like they were in a furniture factory, and this was a material room. A poorly kept material room. The man who’d opened the door didn’t take the time to look his way. He stood just outside the door and appeared to be waiting for someone else. Dick heard two pairs of heavy boots making their way closer and if he listened harder he could hear the near squeal of shoes being dragged across the concrete.

His heart leaped, hammering away in his chest as he recognized the unconscious figure draped between the two bigger figures holding him. “Jason!” he shouted, automatically moving toward the open door to help his brother.

“Stay back and shut up,” the man who’d opened the door ordered in a gruff, Northern Jersey accent. “Unless, you wanna end up like this one,” he jabbed a thumb toward Jason.

Dick froze mid stride and stayed exactly where he was.

The two men flanking Jason walked in about five steps and unceremoniously dropped his brother to the floor, fixing their jackets and brushing off their hands. Dick winced as he watched Jay’s head hit the concrete, that’d be a nice bruise to go with whatever else these guys did to him. The men in question walked out and the door was slammed closed once again, followed by the jangling of keys as they locked the room back up.

Dick ran to his brother and knelt down. He gingerly flipped Jason from being in a heap face down to being on his back with the upper half of his body in Dick’s lap. He started checking the nineteen year old for injuries and tried to coax him out of unconsciousness. “Jason? Hey can you hear me?” He prodded at the back of his head. There was a bump on the side on his head, probably from the fall just now, and a sheen of sweat on his forehead, making the fringe slightly damp. There was also a small bruise forming near his left cheekbone, and a little bit of blood near Jason’s lip and coming from his nose. Not great, but not horrible. Dick wiped the blood away gently with his pocket kerchief and gave Jason a shake. “Come on, buddy. Give me something to work with.” He transferred his brother so he was lying on the floor and he maneuvered Jason out of the now beaten and torn gala jacket to get a better look at Jason’s arms and torso, dropping the fabric next to him. He felt Jason’s body twitch when he prodded at the younger man’s left side. Hopefully it was just bruising. He tried to get a closer look, checking to see if the fabric of the white shirt was torn anywhere, but he didn’t see anything too concerning. “Jay, you gotta wake up for me, bud,” he said apologetically as he poked the same side and softly slapped his unbruised cheek. Jason groaned and Dick smiled as Jason squinted at him. “There we go. Good morning,” he greeted cheerfully. Jason’s entire body tensed and he looked around frantically, but Dick grabbed his shoulders quickly, stopping him from attacking. “Easy. It’s just me. It’s Dick.” Jason relaxed again, dropping his head back to the floor with a heavy sigh.

“Hey…” Jason said, his voice coming out breathy.

Dick’s heart ached at how weak his brother sounded right now and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and swiping the young man's sweaty bangs back. After a moment Dick pulled the hand back and cleared his throat. “Are you hurt anywhere? What did they do to you?”

He heard Jason move to sit up, followed by a sharp intake of breath, and groan as he laid back where he was. “Oh, you know…” Jason breathed as deeply as he could. “The usual, beating a guy when he disagrees with his captors.” He took another moment as he shifted his body and then continued. “I gotta say...they banged me up pretty good for hired help. Kicks to the solar plexus, punches to the face. That sorta thing. Been awhile since I’ve taken blows like that without the armor.” Jason grunted as he tried to sit up again. Dick helped him this time, leaving his arm around his back as support. His eyes widened when Jason leaned into him and added a soft, “I think they gave me something.” Dick’s breath caught in his throat. “Feel tired. ’M dizzy. ‘M thirsy. An’ m’ muscles don’ work.”

Dick could breathe again. “It sounds like a muscle relaxer. Probably as a precaution since you already seem to have caused them some trouble.”  He was glad it probably wasn’t anything serious, but they must have really dosed Jason up which could be dangerous later on. “We’ll keep an eye on it, so let me know if anything changes.”

“Sure,” Jason sighed, closing his eyes.

Dick quickly grabbed Jason’s coat and shook him a little. “Hold on a minute. We’re gonna move over to that crate,” he pointed to where he’d taken up station before the door opened. He secured his arm more tightly around Jason’s back and pulled the other arm over his shoulder. “Ready? Here we go,” he stood up slowly, trying to let Jason stand at his own pace, but it was a struggle and Jason wasn’t able to get his feet under him more than a little bit which got a frustrated noise out of Jason. “Okay. Okay. It’s fine.” Dick quickly resituated to standing behind Jason and secured his arms underneath Jason’s and around his chest, opting for buddy dragging his jelly-like brother the fifteen foot distance. “There, easy day,” Dick assured and he slowly sat the both of them down. He put his arm around Jason’s back again and pulled him to lean against his shoulder. “I don’t know how long ago the gala was, but I’m sure that everyone is out looking for us by now. You can sleep if you want, but I’ll probably just keep talking to you. It calms my nerves.” He heard Jason’s breathy laugh near his ear, showing how tired the teen probably was to be laughing at _his_ jokes. “What? It does,” he defended playfully with his own laugh, shaking his younger brother a little. “I’ve been like that ever since my first mission. You know, the one that I snuck into being part of? Bruce was so mad. But I did a pretty good job, and he would have been in so much trouble if I hadn’t shown up when I did. I don’t care how much he says he could have gotten out of that alone. He’s a liar, and he knows it. Alfred knows it too.”

Jason continued to keep his eyes closed but he added, “Good ol’ Alfred…..’lways got our backs….” His words were starting to slur and he took long pauses between phrases so Dick had to listen carefully. “Even when we m’be did deserve to skip desser’ for putting,” Jason yawned, “f’rt bombs in Br’ce’s briefcase....”

Dick looked at his brother, eyebrow raised in disgust just thinking of the smell. “But _why_ , Jase?”

Jason shrugged. “He needed a new one....clasp didn’ work...an’ he wouldn’ let Alf buy a new one.”

“So what? Did he take the fart bombs to work with him?” Dick asked, genuinely curious how this whole thing had played out.

Jason nodded. “They wen’ off when he ‘pened it….” The corner of his lip twitched into a smirk at the memory. “He...Miss Susan was there...had to ‘xplain to Bruce’s trustees why he was late. He hadda run home to ch’nge.”

“Oh man, poor Susan,” Dick smiled. He felt a little sorry for the inconvenience this must have caused the kind woman. She’d been Bruce’s secretary for the past thirteen years. The previous secretary, Lydia had been nice too, but she was too smart for her own good and Bruce had to transfer her to a different city.  

Jason let out a soft chuckle. “Dunno. When I asked her ‘bout it, she said she’d never f’rget the look on his face.” Jason leaned more heavily on Dick now as his story came to a close. “Needless to say, the mission was a s’ccess an’ he let,” he yawned again as he named the beloved butler, “Al order a new bag.”

“Oh my God…” Dick said in realization. “It was Alfred’s idea, wasn’t it?” Jason just shrugged and didn’t say anything either way, but he couldn’t help his smirk. “Genius.”

“Yeah….Al is great.” Jason’s words had less energy behind them now that they’d started to settle.

The fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Jason shifted, trying to get comfortable as he shimmied lower on the crate.

“You can lay down if you want, kid,” Dick offered.

“’m not a kid, dick,” Jason snapped as tersely as he could in his current condition. But the belittlement did nothing to stop him from sliding down to lay on his side anyway. Dick guided the younger’s head onto his lap instead of the floor, slightly worried because Jay normally would’ve put up more of a fight. The drugs must be really kicking in by now.

He smiled fondly at him and softly said, “Jay, you’re just nineteen. And you can’t stop being my kid brother.” Dick ran his hand through Jay’s hair, and when Jason only hummed defiantly in response, he took advantage of the drug’s effect on Jason’s usual walls. He continued his ministrations until Jason’s breathing evened out, then he grabbed the jacket from earlier and laid it on top of him like a small blanket and resting a hand on Jay’s shoulder.

He really hoped that Batman and the Robins came soon. He wanted to make sure that whatever drug they’d given to Jason wasn’t harmful, plus he was getting hungry. He should’ve grabbed more snacks at the gala. But maybe he had grabbed snacks and he just doesn’t remember right now. He still doesn’t really remember how they got here. Or how long ago. Or what these people wanted. Not that it mattered. They’d been taken as Dick Grayson and Jason Todd so chances were these people wanted money. They hadn’t killed either of them yet. So that seemed to fit with a standard kidnapping. The three big guys from earlier looked like they could be brothers. At least cousins. They could be hired by someone else, or maybe they were running this gig themselves...Nah. Most likely hired. Dick sighed. All things considered, despite being taken as Dickie Grayson, he probably could have gotten out of here and come up with a believable escape story based on his circus background IF it had just been him. Probably. But having an out of commission Jason and no idea of their fighting capabilities, it was safer to hold back and wait for help to come. Guns versus tux, guns won one hundred percent of the time.

As if summoned by the mere thought of help, there was a loud crash of metal on metal and squealing of rubber on shiny concrete outside the door. He’d know the squeal of those tires anywhere. And from the sound of them, Bruce was pissed. He could hear the mechanism keeping the hatch door on the Batmobile’s roof disengage, followed by two pairs of combat boots landing in a sprint. He listened carefully, ready to move him and Jason if things got too crazy.

“Miscreants! Return Richard Grayson now or face my wrath!” he heard Damian shout. “And he had better be unharmed, or I will slay you here and now!”

“Robin.”

“Fine. I will not slay you! I will merely beat you into submission until you wish I would have slain you here and now!”

There were shouts, crashes, bangs, and shots fired, but it all seemed to be taken care of rather quickly as the movement outside settled down. A boot on the door to their room slammed once, then twice, then it splintered at the door jamb, swinging open to reveal Batman and Robin. Dick quirked his head to the side, confused that there were only two of them.

“Where’s Tim?” The question made sense even if someone was listening. Dick Grayson and Jason Todd had been taken, so it would make sense to wonder whether Timothy Drake-Wayne had been taken as well. He even started to wonder if Tim had been taken, which made him uneasy. Where would he--

“Tim is fine. He got into an altercation at the Wayne Gala in an attempt to follow the two of you and is receiving medical attention.” Dick looked at him in horror. “His injuries are minor. Just a swift hit to the head and bruising on his arms,” Batman assured him, coming to kneel in front of his boys. His eyes scanned them both from the other side of the lenses when Robin came in as support should he be needed. Batman shook Jason’s shoulder, rousing the young man. “Are you hurt?” he asked, but Jason didn’t answer and just blinked languidly up at him, trying to regain his consciousness. “Is he hurt?” he turned to Dick, voice tight with worry.

“No,” Dick reported. “Just drugged and a little battered. But he’s okay.”

“What about you?” Batman asked, relieved to hear Jason was safe.

Dick shook his head. “I’m fine. Just a headache from whatever they did to get us from the gala. I don’t remember much before waking up here.”

Batman nodded and moved to pull Jason into a sitting position, who didn’t fight any of the manhandling. “Can you stand up for me?”

“‘M’kay…” Jason mumbled through the fogginess in his brain.

Gauntleted hands found there way behind his back and under his elbow and he was lifted back into a standing position. And just like before his legs weren’t listening and he leaned heavily into Batman’s hold until Bruce decided this wasn’t going to work and he instead gathered his second oldest into his arms and started walking out towards the Batmobile with the dead weight.

Meanwhile, Robin had walked over and extended his hand, helping his eldest brother stand up. He didn’t let go of his brother’s hand as they followed Batman out of the room.

“I’m okay, Damian. You can let go now if you want,” Dick whispered even though they weren’t supposed to be using names. He just wanted to reassure the baby bat that he was fine.

“I know that, Richard,” he hissed, but he didn’t let go. “I am merely offering you guidance as a _civilian_ , Mr. Grayson. This way, please.”

Dick shook his head in amusement, but followed nonetheless. “Okay. I’m in your hands, Robin.”

Once they made it to the Batmobile, Dick climbed into the back and reached for Jason to help Bruce get the barely conscious teen into the back with him and safely tucked against his side.

“You have him?”

Dick nodded. “I’ve got him.” He gave Jason a little shake. “Don’t I, Jaybird?”  Jason huffed, but didn’t reply, instead opting for closing his eyes again and resting his head on Dick's shoulder to sleep as they started the twenty minutes back to the manor.

"So,” Dick spoke up after a good five to ten minutes, unable to stand any more silence, “Now’s as good a time as any to bring this back up, but I vote we don't attend any more galas? That was the root cause of this whole situation. And I've been saying we shouldn't attend for years. I've never once been taken from anywhere other than at a gala or a Wayne Enterprises function. That's a direct correlation. All those in favor?" He raised his hand, then quickly raised Jason's for him just as he saw Damian's hand shoot up.

"Not gonna happen. Overruled." Bruce reached over and put Damian's hand back down. "If you get kidnapped again, I'll disown you."

Dick put his free hand over his heart and feigned shock. "Bruce, I am a _victim_. I was kidnapped from the safety of my own home, and I had to take care of my baby brother. We were gone for who knows how long before you found us."

“It was only a few hours, Dick.”

"'M no' a b'by," Jason slurred, fighting to gain consciousness after sensing he was being insulted.

Dick hugged Jason and nuzzled their heads together. "Yes you are! Look how cute you're being, letting big brother take care of you! Damian come back here." He reached for his youngest brother.

“Tch!” Damian slapped his brother’s grabby hand away. “Father, I insist we run a CT scan on Richard's head. I fear he may have been hit in the head."

"I'll consider it, son. We already have to do one on Jason anyway. I'm not convinced it's just the drug's that are making him let Dick cuddle him."

"Help me..." Jason murmured tiredly into Dick's neck as he tried and failed to push away.

"We're almost home, Jason. I'll help you when I'm not driving. Dick, leave Jason alone. He's weak and needs to sleep off the drugs. You're keeping him awake."

“‘M not weak.” Dick smiled. Jason was not a lot of things tonight. He then moved to defend himself.

"Thank you for your opinion, Bruce. I refuse. I'm making up for some long lost bonding time and I only have a few hours left at best."

Bruce sighed. He couldn’t say no when his oldest son put it like that. "Sorry, Jase," he said apologetically.

"Ruuuude..." Jason groaned, feeling betrayed. He gave up trying to push Dick off of him though and just let it happen.

"Just go to sleep, Jay.”

"Yeah, Jaybird, go to sleep. I'll still be here when you wake up. You can sleep with me tonight!" Dick teased him, ruffling Jason’s hair affectionately. They probably thought he was joking.

He wasn’t.

He’d find a way to make it happen. Jason’s defenses were down. Chances like this didn’t come along everyday. And sure, they normally didn’t start with kidnapping, but one shouldn’t look a gift mouse in it’s horse.

Or something like that.

**Author's Note:**

> So,I have this head canon that Dick doesn't know commonly used sayings and expressions and he just makes his own up. Or he does know them and he purposely uses them incorrectly to make his siblings get frustrated with him. Anywho...
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
